Wednesday 17 September 2014

The Four F's of Magazine Design

1. FORMAT:
Design choices that span every issue and define a magazine's overall look and feel determine the format. These include the logo, cover lines, size of the magazine, department headers, and folios.

2. FORMULA:
The formula sums the magazine's approach to editorial content. Feature type and length, departments in the front and back of the book, photographic style, and illustrations all contribute to the formula.

3. FRAME:
The frame is the standard for outer page margins and gutters. Some magazines use the same margin width through the magazines; others vary the width, using tall top margins for features to set apart the well, for instance. The rule for using margins establishes consistency from issue to issue.
4. FUNCTION:
The function is, quite simply, what a magazine is trying to achieve and the message it's trying to send.

and successful in many industries. The big font displaying her name will attract any music lovers or Madonna fans especially if her image is not known or clear to the audience/reader. The cover lines are spread around the edge of the magazine obviously trying not to cover up the image of Madonna. The Format of this is interesting but also a classic example of magazine design. The picture of Madonna stands out as important as she is very well known  is very successful and will attract any readers just by her face being on the cover. The bar-code being near the center right is unusual as normally they will be featured at the bottom. The titles in the top right corner stand out in bold colours like white and red on a black background.

The Formula of  'Q' magazine. There will be a main feature on the front cover. The masthead (Q) is also always in the top left corner. This is a constant occurrence. The cover lines are always spread over the sides of the magazine so it does not cover the main feature who is this instance is Madonna. Throughout the issues of the magazine if the is a big star like Madonna or Michael Jackson they are placed in-front of the Masthead (Q) showing the audience that the creators of the magazine view them highly and are almost too famous to be put behind the it. The overall look of the magazines is that they cover a range of musical genres and shows in impressive look that will interest all readers.

The Frame of 'Q' magazine is that they have no margin. The designers cover every part of the magazine in something and the leave no part of the pages blank. There are no gap or frames that the magazine could use to stand out. This is a consistent feature of this magazine. There are no margins throughout their magazines and there is no gaps of spaces that have been left without.  

The Function of this magazine is that they are trying to promote various things such as bands and musical artists, Cd's and albums that you could by, gigs and concerts, others magazines such as 'Women in Music'. They are trying to inform people of artists that they may not of heard of or may not have experienced in their music genre.

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